School of Terror

Dec. 17, 2014 The Agenda Taliban kills at least 132 students in bloody attack on Pakistani school Mic At least 132 students and nine staff members were killed on Tuesday when Taliban gunmen stormed a military school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, taking hostages and slaughtering children in the group's most violent attack in recent years. Pakistani military forces eventually cleared the school and killed nine Taliban gunmen "wearing police uniforms and suicide vests." + More than 1,000 schools in Pakistan have been attacked by the Taliban in the past five years. + According to reports, Taliban militants "burned a teacher alive in front of pupils and beheaded children." + Believe it or not, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, which has pushed civilian casualties in Afghanistan to a new high in the past year, criticized the attack as un-Islamic and expressing shared pain with the victims' families. + Despite a decades-long rivalry, Indians showed solidarity for their neighbors on social media with #IndiaWithPakistan. Jeb Bush says he is "actively exploring" running for president Mic Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced via a Facebook note published Tuesday morning that he has "decided to actively explore the possibility of running for president of the United States." Bush is the brother of one former president, George W., son of another, George H.W., and the first upper-tier establishment Republican to formally state his interest in running for the party's nomination in 2016. + Is Bush actually too liberal to win the GOP nomination in 2016? + Does the U.S. really need another political dynasty? Russia's economy is totally screwed. Here's why you should care Mic The Russian economy is staggering thanks to a collapse of its currency, the ruble. It's certainly bad news for Russia, but it could have big ramifications for the rest of the world. The value of the ruble has dropped nearly 20% since Monday, a figure unmatched since the country's economic crisis in 1998.  + Bloomberg News: "The foundations on which Vladimir Putin built his 15 years in charge of Russia are giving way." + The collapse of Russia's currency may actually force Putin to acquiesce on geopolitical issues from Syria to Ukraine. Marvels Here's what happened to teen drug use after U.S. states legalized marijuana. [Mic] Inside Beijing's airpocalypse – a city made "almost uninhabitable" by pollution. [the Guardian] Stephen Colbert is dead. Long live Stephen Colbert. [Bloomberg Politics] Watch the greatest mom ever scold her bickering political operative sons on national television. [Mic] How Hollywood's toxic (and worsening) addiction to franchises changed movies forever in 2014. [Grantland] NASA has come across very, very strong evidence of life on Mars. [Mic] Unboxing the Cards Against Humanity Black Friday special. Spoiler alert: It's bullshit. [Digg] Here's how much sleep Americans trade for work. [the Atlantic] Meet the heroic man who saved 15 fellow Australians during Monday's hostage crisis in Sydney. [Mic] "I was gang-raped at a UVA fraternity 30 years ago, and nobody did anything." [the Daily Beast] Watch the 233 most insane viral videos of the year in less than 7 minutes. [Mic] Photo of the Day Here's a piece of advice: Leave the book at home. Mic Check is carefully and dutifully assembled each day by Jared Keller. Did we miss something you wanted to read about? Want to see us focus on an under-covered issue? Have a tip for the next edition? Email jared@mic.com. Share Mic Check and help your friends stay informed: http://eepurl.com/of1jj. Follow Mic!      Copyright © 2014 Mic, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because you opted in while creating an account on Mic. Our mailing address is: Mic 325 Hudson Street 1001 New York, NY 10013 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences